This Book Made Me Think of You

Last week I read This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page. I waited months for this book to be available at the library while everyone raved about it. I also heard that it was very sad. I didn't read the book summary, so I went into it completely ignorant.

In the end, it wasn't my kind of book, but if they ever make it into a movie, fine. I'll watch it out of curiosity.

Now, I'll give you fair warning, if you want to read this book with the same ignorance I did, don't read the rest of this post. However, I'm not going to give much more away than the book jacket does. Make your decision...

If you're sticking with me, here is what I need to discuss after reading this book...

In the story, Tilly's husband has passed away, but before he died, he arranged for a bookshop to give Tilly one book per month for a year, starting on her birthday, with a letter from him explaining his book choice. 

The plot then goes on to tell how Tilly responds to each book, and how she manages the loss of her husband.

I have to confess, I didn’t like this for Tilly. For one thing, the books her husband chose for her were dumb. But they also somewhat dictated what she should read and what progress she should make in the grieving process. 

As a DON’T TELL ME WHAT TO DO person, that does not sit well with me. This got me thinking… if my husband died… would I like something like this? 

There might be some sort of premeditated gift Scotty could leave for me that would be appreciated. Like a Little People set. Or a gift card. Or, heck, maybe flowers on my birthday. I dunno. And hopefully I never need to find out. But anything that slightly makes me feel like I’m being controlled would bother me, and Tilly’s gifts controlled her. Her husband was like “Read this book and do this thing associated with this book!” and I was yelling at him in my mind going, “What if she doesn’t want to do that thing? She’s in mourning! Stop guilting her into doing these things from beyond the grave, you selfish turd!”

I have major issues with feeling like I’m being manipulated or controlled, and I am in a constant battle with feeling like my choices are being taken away from me. Who’d have thought that, of all the things that could trigger me, it would be a fictional, deceased husband leaving his wife twelve books? 

But I ask you…

Would you like your spouse to sign you up for a marathon without your knowledge?

Would you like your spouse to choose a new hobby for you to try?

Would you like your spouse to enroll you in school? (This has actually happened to two of my friends - their husbands “surprised” them by registering them for classes!) 

Would you like your spouse to buy a house without telling you? (This is another real-life scenario - it happened to my cousin. Her husband bought a house OUT OF STATE and said “We’re moving!”)

I would not be happy if Scotty did any of these things… dead or alive.

So what was probably supposed to be sweet and maybe even romantic in This Book Made Me Think of You was not so for me. 

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Despite what I’ve written in this post, I can see why so many people have enjoyed this book. Again… not my thing… but YOU might like it, so give it a whirl, and don’t let my weird problems taint your perspective (too late?) 

I *think* the book was actually pretty clean (if I remember correctly). It does have 4 “f” words, but not really any other profanity.